Congress set to tackle credit cards, health care

WASHINGTON — When lawmakers return to Capitol Hill today, hammering out details of the budget passed before the spring break will be at the top of the agenda.

On Sunday Republicans continued to warn that President Barack Obama's spending plan is a "disaster" for the country, even though the federal income tax burden is at a historic low, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

"People need to be upset," Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., said Sunday, expressing his support for last week's tea party protests against government spending. "This is a complete, absolute abandonment of fiscal discipline, and the Obama budget is a road map for disaster that will bankrupt this country. ... This is not the change people were hoping for. This is unbelievable growth in government at a time we can afford it the least."

Obama wanted Republicans to return to Congress from their spring recess with a more constructive attitude toward health care, energy and other administration initiatives. GOP lawmakers say they have ideas, just not the ones the president may want.

Obama senior adviser David Axelrod said it remains to be seen whether the president's budget proposal would gain any GOP support in Congress.

"No one expects the Republican Party to fully embrace what we're doing," Axelrod said. "What they would like is for us to ratify the policies that we've had for the last eight years that have gotten us into the mess we're in. We have two parties for a reason, but there are areas of common interest, and we ought to pursue them."

Access to high-quality, affordable health insurance is a goal Democrats and Republican share, said House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio. Lawmakers differ, however, on how to reach that goal.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel predicted congressional committees would make progress on changing the health care system, particularly on proposals for controlling costs and providing incentives for healthy lifestyles. Obama will not consider proposals to tax employer benefits before those and other problems are addressed, Emanuel said, and perhaps not even then.

On energy, Boehner said Republicans continue to favor the comprehensive strategy that includes more nuclear energy and more domestic oil drilling that they pushed last year. He dismissed concerns about carbon dioxide as "almost comical," and questioned man's role in climate change and what should be done about global warming.

"And so we've got to find ways to work toward this solution to this problem without risking the future for our kids and grandkids," he said.

Emanuel predicted that by the end of the first year of the new Congress the president would have an energy bill, though he would not say whether the cap-and-trade proposal to stem climate change would be part of it.

The House and Senate are considering a credit card bill of rights to limit the ability of credit card companies to raise interest rates on existing balances and to require greater disclosure. White House economic adviser Larry Summers said people need to save more, but that the government also needs to curb credit card pitches that addict people to plastic.

Emanuel and Boehner appeared on ABC's "This Week" while Axelrod spoke on CBS' "Face the Nation." Graham's interview was on "FOX News Sunday," and Summers appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Comments

[care4mypeeps]

Credit cards are designed to make us over spend our budget so that it can enslave us to the intrest rate that locks us into paying for years often losing control over our balance that is affected by the intrest rate.

Try layaway it will help us to live within our budget and keep those stores that offer it the opportunity to stay in business.

Wouldn't it be great if we could lay away houses and cars?
Just a little humor to get us through this rescession.

[Horus45]

Credit cards should ONLY be used if you have the money to pay the bill when it comes.
If you don't have the money to pay the bill, credit cards are not what you should be using.
Take out a loan if there is a large purchase you cannot afford to wait to make.

I use my credit card for EVERYTHING, I don't carry cash anymore.
But, I pay the bill off in full every month and I get 1% cash back on every purchase I make.

[THEPILGRIM]

The credit card bill has to put an end to those frivolous practices of credit card companies.
Interest rates above 13% should be illegal - period.
Adding late fees and over the limit fees to an existing credit limit should be illegal.
If your credit limit is let's said $ 5000 there should never be an option for the credit card company to bring the balance up to $ 10,000 for example. $ 5000 means that this is as high as it gets. You have to pay that money down of course, but credit card Company’s should not be allowed to add fees and such on to it!

[FUHP]

Yipee they are back. Now I have to put up with Boehner and McConnell on CNN say "he is taxing, spending, borrowing too much" and just basically saying NO all the time!

[crease]

Once again the party of NO is still saying no with the same rhetoric and same attitude ,where were you Reich wingers when Bush`s Tax cut for the wealthiest people got more money to speculate in investments and helped fuel this economic meltdown,where were you when he was starting a War in Iraq, where were you when the Bush crime family didn`t pursue Osama,where have you been during this financial crisis that has derailed this country?You have been saying no and not offering any solutions except Tax cuts for the wealthy which puts more of a tax burden on the average American worker, well we have had enough of your childish behavior either help or get out of the way.

[VJ2008]

The bonehead cannot keep things in context. He says he doesn't want to strap the next generation with debt, which is not true based on his record, yet he is willing to admit that he doesn't care one bit about pollution and harm to our enviroment, which by the way will be inherited by the next generation. I just keep shaking my head, wondering what these republican are really hiding if they are willing to embarrass themselves on purpose on these other issues.